Mother, forgive me!
by Animecheetah
Summary: A Short Story about Mozenrath's fate after Genie trapped him in a magical cage being carried off by a balloon.


**Animecheetah** – Hello everyone~! This is my first Disney fanfiction that is solely in the Disney Aladdin Universe or D.A.U. for short. Reading how Mozenrath's fate was left unknown got me thinking how unfair it was that Disney never tied up this loose end. Also not much is known about Mozenrath's past before the Aladdin TV Series and this annoyed me immensely as well as the act that it's implied that Mozenrath had known Jafar before he died. All and all those three facts have inspired this lovely one shot fanfic. I hope you all enjoy this, but criticism is always quite welcome.

Chapter title: _Mother, forgive me!_

The cage attached to the balloon soared across the sky, approximately a thousand feet in the air. Its captives had no supplies and barely any shade to protect them from the deadly desert sun. Fate had been particularly cruel to the young sorcerer and his eel familiar. His enchanted gauntlet had been taken from him by his most hated enemy: _Aladdin_ and (to make matters worse) the Genie had caged them and sent them floating aimlessly without supplies. It was an unusually cruel gesture on Aladdin's part, and (until now) he hadn't thought the Street-rat had a cruel bone in his body. The sorcerer chuckled weakly from his spot on the cage floor. He and his familiar had already been airborne for three days now. If they didn't die from crash landing, it would be a race between dehydration & starvation to kill them.

"Master Mozenrath…?" his eel familiar question hoarsely, who was floating near his master. He could probably squeeze through the bars and save himself, but the familiar would never do such a thing. He might be evil, but he was first and foremost loyal to his master and couldn't/wouldn't leave his side even if it meant certain death. The familiar was becoming quite concerned with his Master's health both physically and mentally. His master was never out in direct sunlight for long periods of time like this and Mozenrath's skin had gradually gotten darker, but now it was starting to be burned by the sun's deadly rays. Both his master and himself hadn't had anything to eat or drink in three days. The familiar himself was beginning to feel quite ill, but he was doing his best to hide it. There was no need to burden his master with his own troubles. "…Are you alright?"

"I fear this will be the end of the both of us, Xerxes." Mozenrath responded in a raspy sort of voice before going into a coughing fit. He was so weak from thirst and hunger, and it was beginning to hurt quite a bit to move certain limbs on his body. As the coughs subsided, Mozenrath held his skeletal arm sideways above his face as if trying to shade himself with it. The skeletal arm provided little to no shade from the young sorcerer, though Mozenrath didn't seem to be aware of this minor (to put it lightly) detail. "Death is the ultimate price one can pay."

Xerxes wasn't quite sure what to make of his master's response. It did not answer his question, yet it brought realization to the floating eel: His master had given up. As Mozenrath fell into a coughing fit, Xerxes floated over and laid across his master's shoulders. He was trying for a comforting gesture. It was so unlike his master to become so resigned to their fate. Maybe the loss of the enchanted gauntlet had indeed aided to bring about this drastic change in his master? Yes. It had to be it. Without the gauntlet (or any other magical artifact) his master was indeed powerless in the magical arts. "I'm sure we'll land at an oasis soon, Master."

The skeletal arm fell away from his face as a small, but solemn smile graced his full lips. He knew his familiar was just trying to distract him their predicament, but Mozenrath preferred to be more realistic at the moment. The probability of them surviving a crash landing down to the desert was like a million to one. The possibility of them both dieing in this forsaken flying cage was much more probable. He didn't want to die and he doubted that Xerxes wanted to as well, but that seemed to be their fate. He knew quite well that Xerxes was able to fit through the bars. Though even if Mozenrath ordered his eel to save himself, he knew the familiar would decline. Therefore there was no point in even trying to do so. They would meet their fate head on and together. Mozenrath stroked Xerxes's head slowly and gently as he knew the eel was feel just as awful as he was, though he knew that Xerxes wouldn't admit it. "Mother, I hope you will forgive me." Mozenrath whispered guiltily into the dry winds of the desert. "I was not able to keep my promise to you."

Xerxes watched his master with a curious expression. It was quite rare that Mozenrath mentioned his mother at all. This would be only the second time Xerxes had ever heard his master mention her. In fact (before the first time she was mentioned briefly) Xerxes had assumed that his master's parents were dead. Mozenrath didn't even have a portrait hung in their castle of his mother, let alone ever contact her (that is as far as Xerxes knew about and he was almost never away from Mozenrath's side). This promise to his mother must have also aided in his master's drastic change in mood. Though, Mozenrath had never mentioned such a promise to him before. In fact there was quite a bit about his master's past that the familiar didn't know about. It wasn't until Mozenrath had come under the tutelage of Lord Destane (late ruler of the Land of the Black Sand) that Xerxes was given to Mozenrath to be the young sorcerer's familiar.

Another day and night passed before the floating cage did finally descend to the desert sands below them. Gradually it fell until it almost gently landed in a sand dune, the giant balloon deflated and hanging limp over one side of the cage, which provided a bit of shade. Inside both captives were just barely still alive, though completely unconscious. The landing hadn't been the deadly crash landing both Xerxes and Mozenrath had realistically expected. It had been a like a landing aided by an unseen force, and indeed it had been just that. The magical cage was approached by a tall and slender woman and with a single wave of her hand the cage vanished leaving it's captives behind in the sand dune. She moved towards Mozenrath and lightly placed two fingers on his neck, where a pulse should be. After a minute a slight sigh of relief passed through the woman's lips. Mozenrath was still in the world of the living. Removing her hand, she turned to bark an order at a half snake-half human creature, "General, carry him and his familiar quickly to my lair. They need a healer right away."

"Yes, Milady," the half snake-half human creature replied with a slight bow before slithering over to Mozenrath and Xerxes to carry out his Mistress's order.

* * *

At first Mozenrath hadn't the faintest idea where he was. Well, he knew where was _currently_. He just didn't know his exact location. Currently, Mozenrath was in a large room (it was dimly lit by a couple large chandlers, which hung from the ceiling) on a bed in the far corner of the room and dark blue wool covers were pulled up to his chin. Next to the bed was a baby cradle in which his loyal familiar, Xerxes, was still resting. The woolen covers fell as he pushed himself up into a horizontal sitting position, revealing that someone had changed his clothing. He now wore no turban, shirt, but instead a simple leather glove covered his skeletal arm and blue silken pants were tied loosely around his waist. As Mozenrath scanned the room again, more slowly this time, it began to seem sickeningly familiar to him. "Xerxes, wake up!" he hissed at his familiar just as the door at the far end of the room began to open.

"Let your familiar sleep," a smooth and suspiciously caring voice stated from the far end of the room. It belonged to the tall and slender women, who stood in his door way a moment as Mozenrath's gaze turned to meet her own. She walked into and across the room, her waist length black hair waving from side to side as she walked. Her violet sleek, low cut dress matched the jeweled headband she wore in her hair. "We have some private topics to discuss, my son."

"Of course, Mother." Mozenrath did his best to hide his fear of the women who'd given birth to him. Though with each step that the women took that brought her closer and closer, it was becoming increasingly hard to contain the urge to tremble and beg like a small child. He would have rather been rescued by a caravan than his own mother, whom was none other than the fearsome sorceress Nasira*. His blue-gray gaze never left hers as she seemed to glide across the room and over to his bed, which she sat gracefully on the edge of. She reached out a hand to gently caress the one side of her sons face, though to this Mozenrath flinched briefly. At this reaction a smirk spread across Nasira's thin lips, before continuing the gentle caress. Her son had every reason to be frightened of her. He'd failed to keep his promise to her, even after all that she had manipulated for him. The fact was still the same: Mozenrath had failed.

"You have been quite fortunate in your life, my son," Nasira began as her free hand took hold of his skeletal arm. "I raised you and arrange for your apprenticeship with late Lord Destane in hopes of uncovering a spark of magical talent. You have accomplished _almost_" she frowned as she spoke this word "everything I have asked of you, including disposing of the late Lord Destane. I love your obedience my son," here she stopped the caress of his face and with that hand slid the glove off his skeletal arm. "It is one of your best traits and you have paid a price for the magic you gained. Did you know, Mozenrath, I was quite proud to call you my son?"

"You are?" Mozenrath asked a touch of excitement to his voice, though he couldn't allow himself to celebrate just yet. His mother liked the lure you into a false sense of security before unexpectedly dishing out some sort of punishment.

"Yes, I _was_." Nasira corrected before suddenly snapping his skeletal arm in half at the elbow joint. She quickly stood and stepped off to the side as her son's agonized cry of complete pain filled the room, which only brought a satisfied look to her face. "You are a wretched, magically inept boy who couldn't even destroy those who killed your uncle, my beloved brother Jafar."

Mozenrath now sat huddled and cradling his broken skeletal arm to his chest. Tears ran unbidden from his pained eyes as he glanced over at Xerxes who was oddly still curled up in the baby cradle beside his bed. Usually by now the eel would be at his side ready to face whatever had harmed his master. "Xerxes!"

"Do not fret, Mozenrath, your familiar will wake soon enough. I wanted to be sure that we were not interrupted while we spoke." Nasira explained smugly, her hands on her shapely hips before they simply fell to her side as she turned towards the door, "I'll send a healer in for your arm." She called over her shoulder as she went back across the room.

"Mother, forgive me!" Mozenrath pleaded despite his pathetic state.

Nasira paused a moment as she opened the door to his room, "Forgiveness is earned my son, but first you must be further punished for your failure."

* * *

**Animecheetah**: For those of you who don't know who Nasira is, she is the fraternal twin sister of Jafar. Though in the Disney Aladdin Universe (DAU) she actually isn't Mozenrath's mother, but I think it would explain why Mozenrath is compared to Jafar and why Aladdin doesn't seem to know he has a brother no recognizes Mozenrath to be his brother. So for the purposes of this one shot (and anyother DAU fic that I write) Mozenrath & Aladdin are only half brothers, who don't know that they share the same father.

For more info on Nasira you can go to her Disney Wiki page: wiki/Nasira


End file.
